The present invention relates to a novel vehicle lamp unit. Specifically, the present invention relates to a technology for making a vehicle lamp at reduced cost, while enhancing the degree of design freedom and protecting the environment.
A vehicle lamp unit having a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged therein to constitute a light source is well known. For example, a stop lamp that is to be provided at a specified position behind the rear windshield of a passenger car is well known as a high mount stop lamp.
This vehicle lamp unit using LEDs as its light source generally has a structure as shown in FIG. 6. The structure includes a printed circuit board (d) disposed in a lamp chamber (c) defined by a lens (a) and a body (b) which covers the reverse side of the lens (a), and a number of LEDs (e) that are supported by soldering terminals (f) on the printed board (d) to construct the vehicle lamp unit.
This conventional vehicle lamp unit presents a problem of a limited degree of design freedom. The printed circuit board (d) supports the LEDs (e), making it difficult to design the circuit board (d) in an arbitrary shape, especially in the thickness thereof. Accordingly, the manufacture of such lamp units having a part substantially bent in the direction of its depth and the like is problematic. Moreover, the printed circuit board is expensive and soldering adds to the cost in equipment and production, hence pushing up the manufacturing cost of the whole conventional vehicle lamp unit. In addition, soldering is undesirable from the viewpoint of environmental protection.
It is an object of the present invention to realize cost reduction, an enhanced degree of design freedom, and environmental protection in the production of a vehicle lamp unit.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a vehicle lamp unit according to the present invention includes a base member for supporting a plurality of LEDs, feeder wires that are disposed at the reverse side of the base member and connected to lead terminals of the respective LEDs, and feeder terminals connected to the feeder wires.
Therefore, in the vehicle lamp unit according to the present invention, if the base member for supporting the LEDs is formed as a molded resin article, its shape can be freely chosen and design freedom is enhanced. Moreover, the terminals of the light emitting diodes and the feeder wires can be connected with each other by means other than soldering, for example by welding, thus coping with environmental issues.